


The Scheme

by Rei382



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Christmas, M/M, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 20:06:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9254435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rei382/pseuds/Rei382
Summary: Right before the term ends, Coach Ukai and Advisor Takeda decide to help the team forge some more 'team spirit' by employing a game of Secret Santa. Some people just want to play the game, while others see that as an opportunity to change fates.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I know Christmas was, like, two weeks ago... but me and deadlines - we aren't good friends...  
> Hope you enjoy this late-Christmas story nonetheless :)

Out of breath, Kei arrived at the gym. Seeing all the other team members already there, he almost felt bad for being late. The others glanced at him as he lined up among them, but he ignored their looks. He leaned, placing his hands on his knees as he tried to regain his breath.

  
In front of him, Coach Ukai's and Takeda's gazes lingered on him for a second. "Well, now that we're all here," Kei rolled his eyes at Takeda's obvious scold. As if he wasn't giving enough for the team, when he didn't even really want to join it in the first place. "I have a message for all of you. As you all know, we're getting closer to the winter vacation, and with it, the holidays. Now, I know you all are already spending plenty of time together, but it is all for training – "

  
"It's our last season, we have to make it to Nationals," Kei glanced when Nishinoya spoke, interrupting their advisor's speech.

  
"I know, and you are all doing well, and I'm not saying you should stop or anything, but we – Coach Ukai and I – think that we should do something a little bit more… fun. So, we came up with an idea."

  
Kei straightened up, having finally managed his breath. He looked at Takeda. Idea? That couldn't be good.

  
"We decided that we’re going to play Secret Santa this year. That means, each of you will get a name, and by the time winter vacation starts, everyone gives their presents. It's all anonymous but we're trusting you to be nice to each other."

  
Next to him, all the other boys moved and some whispers were heard. All Kei could feel was annoyance. The last thing he wanted now was to busy his mind with what he should get to whoever his receiver would be, how to give the present to him 'secretly' and all that useless stuff. It was just too much of a headache. He wanted to focus on his exams. Not on something stupid as that. The others, however, seemed excited. Idiots.

  
"So, to make it fair, we brought a friend," said Ukai, making Kei abandon his thoughts, returning to the guys standing in front him. Coach Ukai unfolded his arms, reaching a hand towards Takeda, who, in turn, seemed rather surprised – at least, until it hit him and he let out a little 'oh!' before he turned. He ran towards the end of the gym, picked something up and then came back. He handed it to Ukai, who took it, and presented it proudly to the team.

  
They all looked at them, curious; all but Kei. He looked at them as well, but with a bored look on his face. It wasn’t so hard to guess what they'd bring – a hat, or some kind of a sack. With names, or numbers. Not like either of these ideas ever proved to be too original.

  
"A hat!" Ukai announced, and Kei rolled his eyes and moved his hand to fix the position of his glasses. How surprising. Not. "And we have all the team members' names in it, so all you boys have to do is just come over here, randomly pick a note, and start thinking about your duties as a secret santa! Who wants to choose first?"

  
As expected, his overly energetic fellow first year jumped at the opportunity; but along with him he could head a few more voices; Asahi, Nishinoya and Tanaka. They were all way too predictable. As expected, the honor was given to Asahi, as the Ace of the team. Everyone carefully watched him as he stepped forward, looked grinning Ukai in the eye, and shoved his hand into the hat. He took it out with a little white note in it. He glanced at it, showed it to their coach, before he shoved it into the pocket in his pants and returned to the team. The boys next to him leaned at him, whispering things – probably asking who he chose, but by the looks of it he didn't say. After the initial excitement, the next team member walked towards Ukai, picked a name, and came back. The rest of them did the same, going one by one according to their order in the line-up. When time came, Kei walked towards the coach as well. With no ceremony he picked his note, glanced at it, showed Ukai and walked back.

  
As if his mood wasn't bad enough as it was, the name written on that note made it even worse.

  
How the hell did he manage to land someone like Tobio Kageyama?

 

 

 

XXX

"Hey! Hey, Tsukishima! Wait a second."

  
Kei rolled his eyes, but he still stopped walking. Soon enough, Nishinoya and Tanka caught up to him. Nishinoya patted his back before he wrapped his entire arm around Kei's shoulders. Feeling uneasy, Kei ignored it. For now, anyway.

  
"Say, Tsukki, who did you get?"

  
Kei glanced at the shorter boy before he continued walking, slowly. The arm left his shoulders – apparently Nishinoya was too short to keep on his hold while walking. He was lucky he was so good at receiving the ball otherwise he would never get into the volleyball team. But he was a good libero; even Kei knew that. "I thought we couldn't say."

  
"Yes, yes, we know, but seriously, really think Coach Ukai didn't know we'd talk about it?"

  
"Well, I'm pretty sure that's not how secret santa works. You know, it's in the name."

  
"Come on, Tsukki, it's us. We all already talked, we know who got whom. You're the only one missing."

  
"If you already know who everybody got then you know who I got. Elimination and all."

  
"Yes, you see… that's the problem," Tanaka said, reaching with his hand to scratch the back of his head. Kei knew they lied; otherwise they wouldn't have bothered him. "We know everyone, but Hinata and Kageyama…"

  
Kei glanced at Tanaka. "Okay. Then, why do want to know who I got so bad? Go ask our magic duo."

  
"No, you see, Tsukki… stop, stop, we can't yell it, you know"

  
Letting out an annoyed sigh, Kei stopped, looking at Nishinoya. "What?"

  
"Well… Actually… Shit, we can't talk about it here. Come, come, lets… Uh, lets get in here."

  
"I am not going into the toilet with you too."

  
"We're all guys, it's all okay. Come on, we can't talk in here."

  
He really wasn't in the mood for this. Truth is he was never in the mood for this. He hated these games. Really, what difference did it make. It was a part of the game, not to know who was who's secret santa. "No, Tanaka, I don't – "

  
"Come on, Tsukishima. Come with us and we will explain everything."

  
"Will it get you off my back?"

  
Tanaka and Nishinoya exchanged looks. "Yes."

  
"Fine."

  
Kei had learned long ago that sometimes it was easier to just give in. Just like the way he got into the volleyball team in the first place. He followed the two into the nearest boys’ room, rolling his eyes as they checked to see if there was no one around before they both turned to him.

  
Tanaka seemed to take a breath in before he opened his mouth to talk. “Listen, all we need to know is if you got Kageyama.”

  
That took Kei by surprise. First of all, because he failed to understand why it mattered if he got Kageyama; they were missing three people. He could’ve gotten almost anyone on the team. Well, maybe not almost anyone, but there were four options for sure. The second reason he didn't expect this question was, because their guess was too much spot on, and he didn’t like it.

  
What were they plotting?

  
He crossed his arms over his chest, studying the two boys in front of him. “And if I did, then what? Do you want to switch? One of you has a crush on the King or somethi –“ Seeing the way their faces went white Kei stopped mid-sentence. He was just going for sarcasm; did he actually hit the jackpot?

  
But…. They were all guys. And Kageyama… he wasn’t an easy guy to like. Sure, he didn’t even look half bad, but looks is only a minor part of the deal, and when it came to character, Kageyama was the last person he’d think of as liking-worthy.

  
But then again, these two were extra weird. Maybe their fancy swung that way. He didn’t care. They could do whatever the hell they wanted, with whoever they wanted.

  
But even though he himself didn’t like the boy, he wasn’t going to switch, as badly as he did want it. It was risky. Coach Ukai knew who he got, and hell knows what they were going to give Kageyama in his name and if Kageyama would complain…

  
No, he won’t switch even if they begged.

  
"Listen, I don't mind if you do, but still – "

  
“It’s… uh… it’s not us,” said Nishinoya, cutting into Kei's words. He scratched the back of his head, obviously nervous.

  
“So?...”

  
“We will tell you if you got Kageyama.”

  
Kei studied them carefully. He didn’t really want to say, but his curiosity was starting to get to him. Oh well. It won’t make too much difference, right? “Yeah, I got Kageyama.”

  
The two in front of him smiled and looked at one another at the same time. It was almost uncanny. “Yes!” exclaimed Nishinoya, and Tanaka looked rather pleased as well.

  
Kei stared at them, waiting. He lasted only a few seconds before he broke. “Well then, why was it so important and so secretive?” he asked.

  
“Because – because now we have both Hinata and Kageyama.”

  
Now that was really strange. Not only Kageyama, but they were looking for Hinata as well? Who on Earth liked the little shrimp… and what did it have to do with Kageyama? “So?”

  
“’So?’” Nishinoya looked somewhat confused. “You mean… you didn’t notice?”

  
“Notice what?” now they were just being annoying.

  
The two exchanged another look. “That Hinata and Kageyama…” Tanaka started, and from the way he looked at him, Kei figured that he should’ve known what he meant; but he didn’t. He arched an eyebrow up. Tanaka looked as if he wanted to give up. “Not as bright as you look then, huh? Hinata and Kageyama, they… they kinda like each other.”

  
Kei blinked. He never even thought of it. To him, a closer guess would be to say they hated each other, what with their constant fighting… but even if Tanaka was right, what did he care? Why should any of them care?

  
Apparently he didn’t show the right reaction, because now even relentless Nishinoya looked as if he was about to give up. “Uhm, we mean, Hinata and Kageyama like… like-like each other.”

  
“Yeah, I got it. Even if it's right – which I find hard to believe – so what? And what does that have to do with me getting Kageyama in this stupid secret santa thing?”

  
“You really are thick, aren’t you?” Tanaka sighed. “We – everyone on the team – thought it was about time these two, you know, did something about it. And that secret santa thingie, it just sounds like the best opportunity. So Asahi got Hinata, and we were looking for Kageyama too and were actually starting to fear it was Hinata himself who got him and – “

  
“Hold on hold on. So what you are saying is that they are not dating, but you intend to use the secret santa to somehow push them together?”

  
“Exactly. Finally you're using that brain of yours.”

  
“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. I will not take part in this scheme.”

  
Nishinoya and Tanaka looked devastated. “But – Tsukishima – “

  
“Why meddle with whatever is going on there? If they want to start dating they will. If they don’t – they won’t. That’s their business, not yours. And that’s without even mentioning how on Earth you were going to use this stupid game to –“

  
“Leave that to us,” Nishinoya said. “And they want each other. We’d leave them alone but you know, sometimes people… they need some help figuring out what it is they really want.”

  
“And you think you know better than them what they want.”

  
Tanaka stared at him. “You mean, you don’t feel all the tension between them?”

  
“Seriously, every time they are at the same room it feels as if they’re just dying for the rest of us to leave so they could go at it.”

  
Kei felt his cheeks flush. Did Nishinoya had to talk like that? But then, now that he mentioned it… he did feel something strange. But he never paid too much thought to it. He just figured they hated each other. But maybe - "Okay. And even if that's true. What are you going to do about it? What do you need me for? Because I really don't feel like messing with either of them."

  
"Don't worry!" Nishinoya's smirk really didn't give Kei a good feeling about this.

  
"Leave it to us. You will just… give Kageyama what we're going to give you. Not complicated. Hell, it even means you have less work to do! So what do you say, huh?"

  
Kei had such a strong feeling he was going to regret this later. But right now, the way the two of them were looking at him, it didn't seem like they would leave him alone even if he kept refusing. Plus, how bad could it be? Nishinoya was right. He won't have to think about what to give Kageyama, which was a headache to begin with. It's not like the setter would know, right? His identity is supposed to be a secret. And, besides, he's supposed to think it's from Hinata, so Kei should be completely safe, he was almost sure of it.

  
He didn't like it, but whatever. He fixed the position of his eyeglasses and looked at the other boys. "All I have to do is just make sure he gets it, right?"

  
Both Nishinoya's and Tanaka's eyes lit. Almost as if they thought their mission was hopeless. Too bad it was too late to back away now.

  
"Yes, we promise. We'll get the gift, we'll wrap it, you just give it to him without him noticing it was you. Thank you Tsukki, you're the man!"

  
"You'll see, you're going to get a special place in heaven for that. We're doing a good deed here! And you're making it possible." Kei's eyes were going to hurt from the amount of times he rolled them at these two today.

  
"We'll get you the present some time later this week, okay? And no word to Hinata or Kageyama!"

  
Kei raised an eyebrow at Nishinoya at that. "Wouldn't dream of it," he said, actually meaning it – after all, it'd cause him just as much trouble – and left the bathroom. Behind him he could hear the winning roar the other two let out.

  
He was so going to regret this.

 

 

XXX

The chill of December penetrated his bones, even though he was well dressed – but somehow Tobio had the feeling that no amount of clothes could protect him. After all, there was only so much of his body he could cover; he still had to see and breathe, and no weather forecast could overcome that, no matter if it said ‘temperature below zero’ or ‘high chances of snow’ or anything of that sort. Breathing was essential, and so, his nose and mouth were perfectly uncovered, and so were his eyes, because he couldn’t get a guidance dog just because he felt cold. Unfortunately. Or not; dogs were smelly.

  
The only way to really defend himself from the chill was, to put very simply, not to be facing it at all.

  
Now, how come he found himself standing, freezing to the core of his bones, outside, in the end-of-December chill, that was a whole different matter, and a damn good question at that.

  
If he were honest, he had no idea why.

  
Well, that wasn't entirely true. Curiosity, he thought with an annoyed sigh. That was what drove him out of the warmth and into this ungodly frost. It killed the cat, and cats were a rather intelligent animal. Although he did consider himself much wiser than cats, at times like this, he doubted the supremacy of humans in general, and his own specifically as well. Annoyed, he took his hand out of the pocket of his coat and glanced at the nylon-wrapped candy he held on for the past twenty minutes. He frowned at it, as if the chocolate itself offended him somehow.

  
Well, in a way, it did. That was why he was here, freezing and in immediate danger of turning into an icicle.

  
This was just stupid. He didn't know why he even cared. He wasn't even looking for a romantic relationship but still – here he was – freezing his ass off in the middle of December, just in front of the school gym, a second before winter vacation starts. But he had to know who it was. Who was it that wanted him enough to convince whoever picked his name out of that stupid hat to let her use him, and was so lame to give him chocolate – which he didn’t even like – with the most cliché writing he'd even seen. 'Meet me in front of the gym, Dec 20th, 5PM. xoxo'. There was even a little stupid heart adorning the writing. Right now the writing was a little melted; the 5PM looked more like a smear than anything else, but he knew he didn't get the time wrong. Maybe he wasn't the brightest at the exams, but he could still read. Even if it had two letters in English.  
Tobio glanced at his watch. It wasn't even that much after 5, but the weather made the extra six minutes feel like forever. He was going to stand here four more minutes, and then he –

  
Hurried footsteps echoed in the air around him, clear as a thunder in the empty school grounds. Tobio looked up, securing the chocolate back in his pocket. The last thing he wanted was look desperate. It was bad enough that he actually was here. Only to say thank you, but no, he reminded himself. That was it. Five minutes and he's out of here. Back in the warmth of the school building, and hopefully, counting the minutes until term ends and he can go home. At least, until the next volleyball practice.

  
He kept looking as the figure drew closer, and forced his eyes as the form slowly became clearer. Something looked… wrong.

  
"Ka – Kageyama?"

  
Tobio blinked. There was no more mistaking. What the hell was he doing here? He moved a little in his place, letting his foot play with a small stone that rested on the ground. Realizing how silly that was, he stopped, and insteas moved his fingers inside his pockets. He instantly felt his skin brushing against the nylon-wrapper. He swallowed hard and took both his hands out of his pockets, crossing them over his chest instead.

  
“Do we have a practice now?” he asked. He knew it was a stupid question. He knew there was no practice and even if he didn’t already know that, it was the last day of the term. Even crazy Sawamura won’t schedule them a practice today.

  
But how else could he explain Hinata’s presence? How else could he explain his own presence?

  
The redhead looked at him, blinking. He seemed to be just as surprised as Tobio felt. "No – not that I know of," he said. "What – uh – what are you doing here?"

  
"Me? Nothing," Tobio moved a little in his place. He knew he was being very unreliable, but then again, Hinata wasn't the brightest or most observant, so… "You?"

  
"I…" Hinata, as covered up as he was – more or less the same as Tobio, minus the gloves. His cheeks were flushed to begin with, and now went even a darker shade of pink, giving him this innocent, cute lo – Tobio stopped this train of thoughts. Sudden heat flowed to his near-frozen cheeks. He shouldn't be thinking things like that.

  
"Well, the truth is…" Hinata's voice brought Tobio back to the present. He looked at him, and the little smile that appeared on the smaller boy's lips made Tobio's heart flutter inside his chest. He swallowed. That smile broadened as Hinata removed his backpack, opened it and took something out. With an excited look on his face, he handed a little package to Tobio.

  
The dark haired boy stared at the package given to him, his eyes wide with disbelief. A nylon-wrapped chocolate, with white chocolate writing on it. 'Meet me in front of the gym, Dec 20th, 5PM. xoxo'. It was even the same font. The same little heart at the bottom.

  
"Is this some kind of joke?" he asked, the coldness of his voice covered the way his heart went crazy inside him. What did this mean?... Was it Hinata who – ?

  
Hinata glared at him, the scowl on his face turning more offended by the second. He reached and grabbed the chocolate, bringing it closer to his body, protecting it from Tobio's offending hands. "What do you mean? What, is it so unlikely that someone would like me? I'm very likeable!"

  
Tobio felt his face turning red. "I didn't say you weren't – "

  
"Yes you did! What is wrong with you?"

  
"No, that's not – look," Tobio reached into his pocket, swallowing his pride for a second. This was just too strange, and Hinata really didn't look as if he had a hand in this, after all. He took the chocolate out and handed it to Hinata. "I got the same thing. Someone put it in my bag."

  
The redhead took the chocolate from him and looked at it, twisting it in his hand until the writing was facing him. He kept the other hand close to his chest, holding the other chocolate securely. His stare lingered on Tobio's present for a long moment before he raised his look to meet Tobio's eyes.

  
"W – why…"

  
"I don't know. Someone was playing a joke on us. Some kind of a sick joke, some – "

  
Hinata looked about as flustered as Tobio felt. He tried to think, but found it rather hard, when Hinata was right there, when he looked so…

  
“It makes no sense,” Hinata spoke before Tobio could find the right word. It was almost a relief.

  
His lip twisted, and he glanced sideways. He could see the puffs of air his breath was creating; it was so damn cold. Didn't they say it might snow today? “I know, I mean – “

  
“Hey, what’s that?”

  
The redhead’s sudden interference made Tobio stop mid-sentence. His eyes followed Hinata’s raised hand before he even realized he moved it. He had to force his eyes before he could see what caught the other boy’s attention: right next to where the stone he kicked rolled rested a rather large rock that seemed too perfectly arranged, and something that peeped from underneath it, twisting lightly in the wind. He blinked. It looked a lot like a piece of paper. He frowned at it. It seemed too out of place to be casually lying there.

  
Before Tobio could reach that conclusion and understand its meaning, Hinata was already halfway there. He let out a short, annoyed grunt and followed him. By the time he reached the rock – placed maybe five or six meters away from where they were standing – Hinata already picked up the note, and looked concentrated on the writing on it.  
“What is it?” he asked, his curiosity once again getting the best of him.

  
Hinata emitted an unclear sound before handing the note to Tobio. Frowning, he pulled the glove off of his hand and shoved it into his pocket so he could hold it well enough and took the note from the other boy. He read through it as well – but he could only get past the first sentence before Hinata broke into his thoughts again.

  
"Those jerks," he said, his looking away from Tobio with his arms crossed over his chest, probably half because he was mad, and half because it was cold. Tobio looked at him. Did that pink on his cheeks go even deeper? He didn't have enough time to ponder about it, as the younger boy faced away from him and kept talking. "Who do they think they are? Who do they think we are? As if we – I mean – as if I – well, uh, you know what I mean!"

  
Even without seeing him, Tobio could tell the other boy was flustered. He frowned, feeling his own levels of nervousness rising. "No, I don't. What are you talking about?" he asked, and wondered if he actually wanted the answer to that question. It was true that Hinata could get worked up over the tiniest things, but still, there was something about the way he was acting… Plus, adding the oddity of the whole situation, what with both of them being here at the same time, with the exact same message…  
It was a bit uncanny.

  
The red haired boy turned back to him. Now Tobio could see his face was trying very hard to match his hair. Big brown eyes were staring straight at him for the first time since they met here, at the entrance to the school gym. "This!" he exclaimed, unfolding his arms just so he could gesture at the piece of paper in Tobio's hand. Tobio's lack of understanding was probably blunt on his face, since Hinata let out a small 'hmph' and explained. "The guys. The team. They set this thing up. It seems that they think we have… how did they put it? 'Unresolved tension' that is 'interfering with group', and that they think it's time for us to… uh, solve it."

  
"Solve it?" Tension? What tension?

  
"Yes, well, you know. They – uh – they think we – they think we should go out."

  
Tobio stared at the other boy. His face was very close in shade to his hair by now, his eyes deliberately away from Tobio, his lips curled a bit in an expression that was hard to read other than it was obviously displeased. Tobio frowned, feeling his own cheeks getting pinkish as well. He – and Hinata? No, there must be a mistake. They couldn't – there was no way – they were both guys, for one. He turned his eyes away from the shorter boy. The strange feeling in his stomach every time their eyes met, and the way his heart fluttered inside his chest when he saw him getting closer to him just now… these things they… they didn't mean anything.

  
…Right? "Go – go out?"

  
There was a short pause before Hinata replied, his voice coming out small and strained. "Yes, you know, like… like a… date."

  
They both raised their eyes to look at each other exactly at the same time. Their eyes met, but they held that gaze only for a fraction of a second before as one they looked away. Tobio no longer could feel the cold in his face, but rather felt as if they were burning. His hand crumbled the note in his hand, but he was only vaguely aware of it. He couldn't even feel how cold it was despite not wearing his glove anymore.

  
"I – we are not going to go on a date!" he exclaimed, almost panicking. There was no way he would –

  
"Yes, I know, it's not like I – I would – want to… I mean…" Tobio waited, but Hinata didn't continue that thought. "Why would they even think that?!"

  
"I don't know," Tobio replied. "But – they're obviously wrong."

  
"Yes, yeah they definitely are."

  
There was another moment of silence between the two of them. How pointless it was, to come here. Even worse than pointless. It was embarrassing, and humiliating, and just plain awful. He opened his mouth, his mind set on going back inside, but before he could say that Hinata spoke again.

  
"You know what we should do?" Tobio looked up at him, although he regretted it immediately. Hinata had the same look he had during matches when he came up with a new way to mislead the opposite team and score points. It was a kind of look that Tobio couldn’t help but like. They scored so many points when Hinata was making that look. "We should plan a revenge on them."

  
"Revenge?" Tobio asked, letting the idea roll in his head.

  
"Yes. You know. Make them pay."

  
It really wasn't such a bad idea. It will probably have to wait for the next term, but… he brought his eyebrows together as a brush of wind kissed his skin, making him realize again how cold it was. Well, even if it had to wait, just planning might make him feel a little better.

  
He looked at Hinata, and the determination in his eyes was all he needed to make up his mind. "Okay," he nodded. A playful, almost vicious smile spread on the smaller boy's lips at that. It was contagious, and Tobio found that his own lips curled up as well.

  
They looked at each other in silence for a short moment before Hinata broke it. "Come on then, lets go, it's cold here," he said, turning from Tobio. He started walking, passing by Tobio. He could feel a sudden brush of warmth against his skin as Hinata's hand skimmed against his. He froze in his place as his heart skipped a beat.

  
Hinata stopped as well and turned, staring at the Setter. They held their stare, neither moving. Tobio could still feel the sensation lingering on his skin, leaving a hot spot where they touched, as if the molecules left by Shouyou's skin provided some kind of shield from the cold December weather. Bright brown eyes sparkled, and he was visibly forcing his breaths. Tobio could see his coat moving as his chest heaved with his breaths. The smile that adorned his mouth seemed to be gone, instead leaving his lips slightly parted. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but nothing but clouds of breath floating in the cold air came out of his mouth. He lingered a second before he closed his mouth and moved his hand, and Tobio could feel how Shouyou's hand gradually moved closer. Warm fingers tangled between Tobio's cold ones, sending sparks over his skin, through his nerves and up his spine.

  
His breath hitched, and he didn't move, finding himself unable to do anything but stare at him, petrified. He watched as the other boy's lip, pink and fleshy, curled inside a little as he bit on it. His every movement was filled with caution, his eyes carefully examining Tobio; but the taller boy still didn't move, feeling his heart beating up at the base of his throat, almost threatening to choke him. Eventually Shouyou's hand was completely intertwined with Tobio's. The tension between them was so thick Tobio thought that if he tried to move, he will find himself bumping into an invisible wall; but after a few seconds, a short moment that stretched forever, he felt compelled to move. He moved his fingers, letting his hand close on Shouyou's.

  
The teeth seemed to leave his lips as instead the redhead smiled, softly, almost shyly; Tobio found himself mirroring the smile, encouraged to tighten his hold on Shouyou's hand. It felt weird; but the best kind of weird he'd ever felt. He realized that suddenly, he didn't feel so cold and he didn't mind being out here so much. He didn't even feel mad about the ploy their teammates played on them to drag them both out here.

  
He just felt…

  
Happy.


End file.
